WW2 Pattern 37 gear

[Moondog55]

I have accumulated quite a bit of old pattern 37 gear.
I find the small pack just a tad too small and the large pack unwieldy and a bit too large to use as a haversack; although I know people do; I have one spare I'm thinking of modifying and I'm asking what size I should reduce it too.
I'm also going to be doing the Chindit/Vietnam mod on one of the jungle green ones as I have several spare basic and utility pouches here.
Your thoughts?
My beloved says I can borrow her big free-arm machine so sewing though this old thick fabric shouldn't be a problem.
This is mainly for around town use, water bottle, rain jacket, emergency meds kit and a book to read while waiting around etc.
I don't mind unpicking the whole thing and re-sewing.

 

[Herman30]

Not what you asked but I bought this pattern 37 canteen carrier.
Fits my vacuum insulated Klean Kanteen 1.9 litre .
Old stuff can sometimes be very usefull.

 

[SCOMAN]

What was the Chindits/vietnam mod? We used them, well copies of them, as school bags back in the ‘80’s.

 

[Moondog55]

What was the Chindits/vietnam mod? We used them, well copies of them, as school bags back in the ‘80’s.

Adding the utility pouches as side pockets; either by sewing or using Chicago screws and/or to the front of the pack in the same way.
In my limited experience [ Artillery not Infantry and CMF] the large pack was too small and the small pack wasn't large enough. Even when I was a kid of 17 my greatcoat wouldn't fit inside the large pack as it was supposed to.
I've started sewing up a hybrid haversack of an in-between size using a couple of old packs I have spare.

 

[Moondog55]

Just finished sewing up the haversack modification.
I'd post pix but I don't use a third party so can I upload directly from my own computer?
Might sew up one of the water bottle carriers like the unit Herman has posted.

 

[Siberian Mongoose]

I have a small, army surplus WW2 haversack being 10” wide by 9” high by 4” deep with on the top of the widest part of the shoulder-strap ’B.S.C.1942’ with an ’N’(?) below this and something almost unreadable (’BR22’(?)) below and to the left of the ’N’(?) (it can also be back-mounted with the appropriate straps, but this seems silly), and with brass hardware—had it since the 1970s and still use it. Don‘t know what it was originally intended for, but i assume that it is the same pattern 37, although the colour is different, being khaki, than that illustrated in post #2 (could be false colour here). Inside it has a division across the centre with it divided half way towards the front.

I’ve seen fake ones for sale, and these are made from cotton duck, whereas i wonder whether the original ones are hempen as it is the same colour as hemp fibre which is khaki-coloured (have some once used for plumbing), and it is so strongly made that it should outlast me.

 

[Siberian Mongoose]

Here is the haversack:

http://karkeeweb.com/patterns/1937/1937_haversacks.html

the one at the top of the page.

I used to have one of these enameled Mk. VI Water Bottles:

http://karkeeweb.com/patterns/1937/1937_water_bottle_carriers.html

the bottle was covered in felt so as to be wetted for cooling the water, and it being corked. I wouldn‘t call it green but khaki.

 

[Moondog55]

Depending on which service they went too and when, they could also be Airforce Grey-Blue or dark jungle green. And no matter what the original colour they were supposed to be maintained with Blanco which was a coloured clay product.
They were still being made in the 1950s here in Oz and they still make them in India and Pakistan for the movies and re-enactors as well as those cheap look-alikes which are shoddy in the extreme, some also come from China and those are even lighter and more shoddy again.
I have several of different ages and stages of decrepitude.
Work best as a city bag as I think they are too small to carry much in and the internal dividers work best with the issue waterbottle and mess tins, a shame nobody makes a plastic waterbottle to suit.

 

[Siberian Mongoose]

I used to usually use my haversack to carry a film SLR plus two extra prime lenses in their hard cases, and could fit filters and film in also: handy to access when with a rucksack on my back. Still used though, and never will give it away being an ’old friend’.

I gave away the water bottle as a lighter and better one replaced it, but it served me well for years.

 

[Moondog55]

Details of the replacement WB?
The issue WW2 bottles fetch big money if in good condition; up to $70- each now, but most are in a pretty poor state after 80 years

 

[GNJC]

I have accumulated quite a bit of old pattern 37 gear.
I find the small pack just a tad too small and the large pack unwieldy and a bit too large to use as a haversack; although I know people do; I have one spare I'm thinking of modifying and I'm asking what size I should reduce it too.
I'm also going to be doing the Chindit/Vietnam mod on one of the jungle green ones as I have several spare basic and utility pouches here.
Your thoughts?
My beloved says I can borrow her big free-arm machine so sewing though this old thick fabric shouldn't be a problem.
This is mainly for around town use, water bottle, rain jacket, emergency meds kit and a book to read while waiting around etc.
I don't mind unpicking the whole thing and re-sewing.

Purely out of interest... what for; are you a collector or do you use it outdoors?

I'm asking because my own experiences with things made from that type of material in this climate has lead me to avoid it ever since.

 

[Moondog55]

Personal interest in old gear. I use it around town where weight isn't an issue. But I'm also in the middle of replicating all my old issue gear and a set-up duplicating both my uncles services in Nuigini in WW2 and Malaya /Vietnam as part of an inheritance for my daughter.
In the bush I use better more modern stuff.
P-37 and M-56 gear is pretty crap actually from a practical POV

 

[Siberian Mongoose]

Details of the replacement WB?
The issue WW2 bottles fetch big money if in good condition; up to $70- each now, but most are in a pretty poor state after 80 years

The old water bottle (also with a shoulder-strap) was in good condition, i’m not rough with kit. As an example, should i have known it i would have bought when cheap a dozen VW split-windscreen Kombies and stored them…these are now being sold in NZ for the absurd price (last time i looked) of NZ$70,000 to $100,000! One cannot know in advance of the mania of collectors, nor have the wisdom of hindsight regarding them.

Firstly a stainless steel bottle; more recently a Keith Titanium, via Heavy Cover, US-style canteen plus ti cup with lid, in a Helikon Tex canteen bag.

The P-37 haversack is now mainly used for the veggie garden to take out and to hold things that i need there (other than tools), and my being rural to take out mail for pickup and to bring in mail from the mailbox (they are like US rural ones here).